Fluids, such as gases, liquids, combinations of gases, liquids and/or solids (e.g., particulates) are often transported in pipelines or other conduits in a pressurized fluid flow. Examples of such transportation systems include, pneumatic conveying systems, high and low pressure natural gas pipelines, flow lines, gathering systems, vapor recovery systems, coal bed methane gas lines, oil pipelines, water pipelines, etc.
In many fluid transportation systems, it is desirable or necessary to separate different components carried in the pressurized fluid flow. For instance, it may be necessary to separate mineral tailings from water, natural gas liquids from oil and/or natural gas, etc. In such systems, it is often necessary to provide a processing facility for the separation of different component from a fluid flow. Accordingly, it would be beneficial if different components could be separated from the fluid flow in-transit to reduce or eliminate separate processing facilities.